Clothes! Clothes! (Eloise)

[Eloise Eaton]

Eloise followed a couple steps behind Kuni - half because she didn't know exactly where the bus stop was and half because she wasn't 100% positive where the bus stop was, and half because Kuni's legs were just so long and his strides took him much further than Eloise's. It would have been even worse if El hadn't been tall for a girl standing at about 5'10".

"Oh!" Eloise said when Kuni noted that he lives at Hammel. How had she never noticed him in the hall? He had to tower over most of the students there. "Well that makes it easy," she said with a little laugh, "Because I'm at Hammel too." She took an extra step to catch up with Kuni, only to fall behind again a couple moments later. But it wasn't too far to the bus stop and Eloise no longer had to try and keep up.

She brushed the dirt off her feet as Kuni spoke up again so she could tuck her perfectly manicured toes back into her socks without ruining them, and then put her shoes back on. "Well breaking lake-laws is definitely my favorite past time," she said sarcastically, glad that the two were already more than comfortable joking about the situation, because it was still fresh and awkward in her mind. But if there was anything Eloise could do, it was make a joke out of a situation.

"I don't know," Eloise admitted as she stood back up, having finished retying her laces. "I just kind of go to school... I study... I shop," she admitted the last part a little sheepishly because she realized it was such a stereotypical thing. "I'm not all that exciting," she added, knowing that an exciting past doesn't equal an exciting individual. It was hard to be exciting when you didn't really have friends.

[Kunikpok "Kuni" Arrluk]

"Oh, wait, really?" Kuni asked incredulously, looking over his shoulder at Eloise. He laughed a little. "Well then, that does make it easy," he agreed. "The bus stops right next to the school, it only takes about ten minutes or so." Seeing how she was falling behind a little, Kuni tried to slow his pace, though he was a fast walker by nature, so it was weird. Still, he didn't want to be rude.

He laughed again as she responded to his joking words, relieved that she didn't seem mad or anything anymore. The sooner they were less awkward, he thought, the better. "You seem the type to do that a lot," he replied, mockingly solemn, before breaking into another set of giggles. This was about as 'law-breaking' as Kuni ever got.

As the headlights of the bus appeared down the road, he turned his attention from the blonde momentarily to make sure the driver saw them before looking back to Eloise. "I wish I was better at school, and studying," he replied, half-frowning. "And, I don't know... You seem pretty exciting if you ask me." Then again, he'd never met a girl while she was skinny-dipping before, so. He stepped out of the way to let Eloise get on the bus first before following in after, finding a couple empty seats towards the back to settle down in; he nearly took up more than a single seat. Kuni felt into a bit of an awkward silence, then, uncertain of what else to talk about. "Do you like seafood?"

.... What kind of question was that?

[Eloise Eaton]

Eloise shrugged when Kuni suggested she was more exciting. She wasn't sure what about her - other than being caught naked in the lake - was coming off as super exciting. She tucked a few strands of still slightly wet hair behind her ear. She rocked back and forth on her toes as the bus approached, glad that she'd have a chance to sit after the long run and awkward swim.

She followed Kuni toward the back of the bus, and sat down - awkwardly leaving a seat between herself and her companion (if you could call him that) because he took up more than a seat, and wasn't so sure this day could handle thigh contact. There was quite a bit of silence between the two as the bus pulled away from the lake. Eloise fiddled with her fingers, tracing the pink lines of her still-fresh manicure. Her green eyes shot up again when Kuni finally broke the silence with what was definitely an unconventional ice breaker.

"Uhmm..." Eloise started with a furrowed eyebrow, not sure where Kuni was getting with the question. She was probably over thinking everything Kuni was asking. She usually didn't do anything of the sort - Eloise didn't care what people said or thought or asked. But for some reason that attitude changed when she was seen in such a compromising position. "Yeah I like seafood," Eloise said with a small nod, placing her hands on either side of her knees, clutching the edge of the bus seat. "I like all sorts of food," she added with shrug, never having really tried food she didn't like (if you discount that from the school cafeteria). "Why?" she asked curiously, still trying to decipher the questioned relevance - if there was any at all.

[Kunikpok "Kuni" Arrluk]

Kuni frowned as the girl chose to sit so far away from him, but he realized he had to give her a break; after their initial encounter, after all, awkwardness was to be expected even a while after it had happened. Still, he hoped they could get to the point where it wasn't so. Eloise seemed like she would make a nice friend.

He... Didn't really know where he was going with that question either. Kuni had just tried to think of something to talk about to fill the silence, and that had been the first thing that had come to mind. Leave it to a whale shifter to do that. "Oh, good," he replied, laughing a little awkwardly. "I like food too. I... Well, obviously I have to eat a lot...." He trailed off. What was he even saying? "Huh? Oh! I, uh, I work at a fish market, and I have to work tomorrow, so... I don't know, honestly I was just trying to think of something to say," he admitted, laughing again.

"But if you can think of something more interesting, that would be great," Kuni shot a grin her way as he spoke. "Um... Well, I guess, what's your ability?" Ah, shoot, no, he hated asking that question! Because then people always asked him what his ability was and then it got really awkward unless he left out the whale part and just mentioned that he could hold his breath for a long time... But then again, she'd already seen that, so she wouldn't ask for more details, right?

[Eloise Eaton]

Eloise bit her lip nervously when Kuni asked her about her power. 98% of the time when people learned what her power was, they freaked out. The other 2% of the time included her father, Monroe, and a handful of other people who understood that she couldn't help it. And somehow she had a feeling, that even if the guy was ok with it, finding out that Eloise could read minds would only make their awkward situation even worse. Her face flushed again, just from remembering everything Kuni had been thinking back at the lake.

She briefly considered lying, like she did when she had first been recruited at Kotcher. She learned from that mistake though, and decided that the situation between herself and Kuni was basically as bad as it could get, and adding her telepathy into the mix couldn't possibly make the night any more awkward - for god's sake Kuni saw Ella naked and now they were dripping wet on a bus talking about fish.

"I'm... telepathic," Eloise said, almost carefully. "I... read minds," she said even more carefully, just in case - because every now and then someone didn't actually know what telepathy was. She looked over toward Kuni with a slightly amused smile - as if to say 'yeah. sorry 'bout that. I can't help it'. Because she didn't want him to be mad. She hated when people got mad.

[Kunikpok "Kuni" Arrluk]

Kuni, for some reason, had assumed Eloise had a... Well, sort of light, feminine ability. Like bird communication, or something. He didn't know - and it was dumb reasoning too, because a lot of people didn't look like they would have the ability they did. He, on the other hand, was already large and sort of clumsy, so he felt like his ability fit him. Not to mention it tied in closely with his ancestral history.

So when Eloise finally told the truth about her ability, Kuni took a moment to digest this before immediately feeling even more awkward, realizing she could read his thoughts. Oh.... Oh no. Of course, this made a barrage of embarrassing thoughts enter his head all at once, which were such a jumbled mess that even he had a hard time picking up just one. It took a moment for him to clear his mind and try to focus on something simple and unimportant, like the pattern of the seats they were sitting on. "O... Oh," he finally uttered. "I... Wow, that must be an... Interesting ability to have."

He wasn't mad. Definitely not. He knew she had no control over the ability she was given. This just... Yeah, made him feel extremely self-conscious. "I, uh... I'm sorry... If you've picked up anything.... Weird..." he mumbled, tapping his temple. "I'm really not all that bright, but... My mind does wander sometimes..." And of course, his own ability was brought to the front of Kuni's mind again, plain and clear for Eloise to pick up if she was paying attention. "How... Um, how much can you... Read?" Was that the right term?

[Eloise Eaton]

Eloise flushed slightly when Kuni reacted to her reveal - though it wasn't as negative as it could be. Some people became infuriated when they found out she could read minds. Kuni just became more awkward than he had been before, with the exception of the moment he surfaced in the lake, eyes level with El's bare chest. She flushed harder just thinking about it.

"It's fine," Eloise promised, when Kuni began apologizing. "You have nothing to be sorry for," she promised, even though hearing his thoughts directly after the encounter didn't help subdue the awkwarness of the situation. It was why Eloise turned it off to begin with. It took some extra concentration, but in this case she was more than willing - it saved her the embarassment of knowing exactly what the guy was thinking.

"I uh... well when I'm not trying it's just surface thoughts," Eloise explained. "So whatever you're actively thinking about... but I can go much deeper if I tried. Suppressed memories, deep fears, sometimes images... I stay away from all that though except for class," she added quickly, hoping that the prospect of loosing his privacy wouldn't turn Kuni away, like most. He seemed nice and she would still have to face him again to give back his tshirt. "But I can turn it off too, which I did. Back at the lake. When things got... weird." El smiled a bit and tucked a loose strand of drying blonde hair behind her ear, nervously tapping her feet as she explained herself.

[Kunikpok "Kuni" Arrluk]

Kuni couldn't be mad because he knew it wasn't in Eloise's control, any more that he was in control of his ability being what it was. He could understand why some people might be upset, though; it was hard to be around someone who could hear what was supposed to be private. "I'll... Try to be more conscious of what I'm thinking around you," he replied with an awkward shrug of his broad shoulders. It wasn't that he was particularly bad-minded like some other boys his age, but... It was still something to think about. Or, rather.... Not think about.

"Surface thoughts... Right, okay." That was... Okay. Kuni's mind, honestly, was usually quite blank when he wasn't paying attention to anything, so he wondered if she would pick up anything from him when he was like that. His eyes widened as she went on. "Wow, that's, uh... Pretty cool, actually," he mumbled. "I mean..... It's probably kind of scary too, isn't it? Being in other people's heads?" He was curious. What if the person had a sick mind? Or had secrets that weren't supposed to be known by anyone? It would be a burden. He laughed a little. "I mean, at least I don't really have any... Of those things, I don't think. My head's pretty empty." He tapped a knuckle against his temple. "But... Thanks for, uh, the privacy."

Kuni blushed thinking about their first encounter not too long ago. He was too busy musing over what he'd learned to realize they had reached Hammel's stop until the announcement came. "Oh, looks like we're here," he said, standing up and carefully maneuvering his large body through the seats and outside. The gates of Hammel stood not too far away, and were fortunately still open. "Looks like we made it back before curfew, at least," he said with relief.

[Eloise Eaton]

"It is what it is," Eloise mused, not really sure how to classify her experience in other people's minds. Some were worse than others. Some people thought almost nothing at all - which was always a nice change. Kuni claimed to be one of those people, which Eloise wasn't too sure she was ready to test. "You kind of just get used to it," she added with a shrug, twirling a now-dry strand of blonde hair around her finger.

Eloise hopped up out of her seat behind Kuni, secretly glad that they were cutting that conversation short. She hadn't gotten the chance to ask Kuni about his power in return, but she could figure that out later if she really wanted to. El was just glad she didn't have to talk about her ability and how uncomfortable it could be any more. After all, hearing someone thinking about how they saw you naked was a pretty strange, uncomfortable situation.

Eloise was also glad that they had made it back before the gates closed. "My father would have had my head if he found out I was... well..." Eloise trailed off with a little chuckle. Normal parents wouldn't have to know the details of why their child missed curfew. However, Eloise's dad wasn't normal - he was also a telepath. That conversation would certainly end badly. They stepped through the gates, and walked back toward the building. "Thanks again for the shirt," Eloise said, grateful that she wasn't walking around campus in a wet, white teeshirt. Man, she really hadn't thought anything through when she jumped into the lake...

[Kunikpok "Kuni" Arrluk]

Kuni was just... Really glad he didn't have a mental ability. He didn't think he had a mind strong enough to be able to handle it. No, he would leave that for pretty, nice girls like Eloise. Oops, did she hear that? Oh well... It wasn't like it was anything crude, right? He just felt self-conscious with his thoughts now, even though she said she'd turned it off.

He was also thankful she hadn't found out about his ability yet. Unless, of course, she'd picked it up and just been nice enough not to laugh over it.

"Oh... I'm sorry!" Kuni apologized, even though none of this was particularly his fault. His parents likely would have just laughed had they found out; Kuni was more likely to space out watching the stars and lose track of time than do anything all that naughty or dangerous. He wasn't a troublemaker, just... Slow. He blinked and shook his head, looking back at Eloise with a smile. "Oh, yeah, don't mention it," he replied, waving a hand. "And don't worry about hurrying to get it back to me. I have plenty of others." He chuckled a little awkwardly as they entered the building. "So... I guess I'll see you around, then?" he asked as he paused at the stairwell. "I, um, live on the boy's floor, room 502. Come over anytime, really. I love having friends over." Because despite how they'd met, Kuni felt like they were friends to some extent now, right?